Palatine Private Equity has continued to strengthen its offering in the responsible investment space with two new recruits to its returns-focused Impact Fund. James Gregson joins the Manchester team as Investment Director, while Matt Coles has joined as Investment Manager in the London office.   Gregson joins from advisory firm BDO, where he spent 11 years, including seven in the M&A team advising clients on domestic and international transactions across a variety of sectors. He has particular mid-market expertise, advising on deals generally between GBP5m and GBP20m in value.   Coles previously worked at PwC for seven years, with four

Specialist lender Investec’s Growth & Acquisition Finance (GAF) team has made a senior hire to support its ambitions in the UK mid-market.  James Goût joins from Barclays to continue the expansion of the GAF business, which provides funding for entrepreneurs, management teams and private equity houses in the UK mid-market.   Known for its flexibility in structuring across the entire capital structure, offering revolving asset-based facilities, senior cash flow lending, mezzanine finance and minority equity, GAF places a strong emphasis on its partnerships and commercial approach to supporting growing businesses.   Goût joins from Barclays, where he has significant experience across the

Private equity firm Angeles Equity Partners (AEP) has added three to its team. Maxwell Schechter joins the firm as Vice President of Business Development, focusing on deal origination and marketing. James Lee and Shan Siddiqui join AEP as Associates concentrating on the evaluation, due diligence and execution of new investment opportunities. Angeles Equity Partners I, and its parallel funds (collectively, “AEP I”) have USD360 million in capital commitments from a diverse group of institutional investors, including public and private pension plans, endowments, foundations, a sovereign wealth fund, and alternative asset managers in North America and Europe. AEP I focuses on

TowerBrook Capital Partners-backed Gravity Media Group (GMG), which acquires businesses serving the live broadcast sector, has appointed Paul Greensmith as its new Chief Financial Officer to oversee the company’s growth strategy. Following recent acquisitions and investment, GMG’s current companies include Gearhouse Broadcast, Hyperactive Broadcast and Input Media – companies that supply technical equipment, facilities and services to capture live and near live content to broadcasters, production companies and rights holders around the world.   Paul Greensmith has over 15 years’ experience working as a Chief Financial Officer with private equity owners across a range of sectors. Roles included positions at

Global law firm Jones Day has appointed Charles Chau as a partner in the firm’s M&A Practice in Hong Kong. An adviser for nearly 20 years to clients in Hong Kong, mainland China, and the Asia-Pacific region, Chau has extensive experience in public and private company acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, and pre-IPO investment transactions. His experience encompasses a wide range of industry sectors, including banking and financial services, health care, biotech, retail, real estate, and manufacturing.   “Charles brings tremendous experience to our transaction capabilities in the region,” says Joelle Lau, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Hong Kong Office. “Given the

Maven Capital Partners (Maven) has appointed Craig Hopwood as an Investment Director, based in the Manchester office. Hopwood joins from HSBC where he was responsible for looking after a portfolio of larger private equity-backed businesses across the region including Fircroft, Tangerine and Innovia. Prior to this, he worked in the private equity teams at Northstar Equity Investors and Spirit Capital Partners LLP, having previously been part of PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Corporate Finance Private Equity advisory team.   At Maven, Hopwood will be responsible for sourcing and leading new growth capital and private equity investments across the North of England. In addition to

Los Angeles-based private equity firm LightBay Capital has appointed David Leeney as a Managing Director and Head of Business Development. He will be responsible for coordinating LightBay’s deal sourcing and relationship management efforts. Leeney brings more than 14 years of business development, origination, and investor relations experience to LightBay. Prior to joining the firm, Leeney spent ten years at The Gores Group, where he most recently served as the Head of Global Origination and oversaw business development for all of Gores’ investment vehicles, including its small-cap and mid-cap funds. Prior to Gores, Leeney worked as an investor relations consultant at

International corporate finance firm Clearwater International has appointed Dan Salt as a Director in its Birmingham office. Salt (pictured), joins Clearwater International with over 10 years’ experience in finance, having previously worked for RBS and CYBG. He has worked with public and private companies as well as private equity across a range of sectors.   Clearwater International has recently published news of its record figures for the last financial year and its continued ascent of the M&A rankings table. Dan’s appointment follows a series of new recruits across the UK team and internationally – highlighting Clearwater’s ongoing commitment to invest

Law firm Goodwin has added Ian O’Donnell – venture capital fund formation specialist – as a partner in the firm’s Private Investment Funds practice San Francisco. Concentrating on the formation and representation of venture capital, growth equity and private equity funds, O’Donnell’s practice also includes the representation of issuers and funds in public and private financing transactions. He focuses on all aspects of the formation and operation of domestic and international investment funds, including venture capital, private equity, fund of funds, secondary market, debt and a variety of other types of funds ranging from multibillion-dollar venture capital and leveraged buy-out

Palatine Private Equity has invested in its Midlands team with the appointment of Tom Hustler as Investment Manager. Hustler joins from The Royal Bank of Scotland where he worked as an Associate Director in the Structured Finance team. During his time there, Tom worked on a range of large corporate deals and private equity transactions. In his role, he was responsible for originating, structuring, evaluating and completing a range of event-led transactions including M&A, recapitalisations and MBO’s.   Having trained as an accountant, he started his career at KPMG as an Audit Manager for a number of Midlands-based clients of